Volleyball Falls to No. 1 Wisconsin in Four Sets

Box Score (PDF)

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University women's volleyball team fell to No. 1 Wisconsin, 26-28, 25-20, 24-26, 18-25, at Fiserv Forum on Wednesday evening in front of a record crowd of 17,037.

The crowd broke the NCAA regular season indoor attendance record in the first women's volleyball match at the home of the MU men's basketball team and 2021 NBA Champion Milwaukee Bucks. It is also the most fans to watch a women's sporting event in the state of Wisconsin.

Marquette senior outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton led the Golden Eagles (2-6) with 16 kills and eight digs, and recorded her 1,000th career kill on her third of the night midway through the opening set.

The Badgers (8-0) hit .244 in the victory and were led by 15 kills from Sarah Franklin (15-3-43), while Anna Smrek also had 15 kills and five digs.

NOTABLE:

Marquette has a total of eight Wisconsinites on its roster: Molly Berezowitz (Burlington), Sam Naber (Burlington), Hattie Bray (Hancock), Aubrey Hamilton (Hartland), Ella Foti (Madison), Adriana Studer (Hartland), Morgan Daugherty (Brookfield), Natalie Ring (Madison).
The Badgers have one player from the state of Wisconsin on their roster, freshman Saige Damrow (Howard's Grove).
The Golden Eagles played their sixth match this season against a ranked opponent.
MU last faced the nation's top ranked team in last season's NCAA Sweet 16 and fell to eventual national champion Texas in the regional semifinals at Gregory Gym in Austin.
The Golden Eagles have nine matches this season against teams currently ranked in the AVCA Coaches Poll (No. 1 Wisconsin, No. 7 Oregon, No. 8 Pitt, No. 14 Creighton (twice), No. 15 Tennessee, No. 17 Purdue, No. 20 Kansas, No. 25 Dayton). Western Kentucky is also receiving votes.
Hamilton has 502 kills at Marquette and had 511 in her first two seasons at Notre Dame.
Daugherty's father, Sean, was a four-year member of the men's basketball team at the University of Wisconsin (1994-98).
Yadhira Anchante had a season-high 22 digs for MU, while Ella Foti had 19.
The Golden Eagles had set point, 24-21, on the Badgers in the third set before UW took the next five points to claim the stanza, 26-21.
UW and MU are two of just seven teams in NCAA Division I to have at least 22 wins in each of the last 10 seasons (excluding 2020-21).
The previous record for NCAA indoor regular season attendance was set last season in Madison in a match between UW and Florida at the Kohl Center (16,833) on Sept. 16, 2022.

UP NEXT: MU will face Milwaukee on Thursday at the Klotsche Center on the East Side. The game against the Panthers is slated for 6 p.m. and airs live on ESPN+. The Golden Eagles then return to the Al McGure Center this weekend to host Air Force on Saturday afternoon and No. 7 Oregon on Sunday.

Keep up with the Marquette University women's volleyball program through social media by following on X (@MarquetteVB) and Instagram (@MarquetteVB) and 'liking' on Facebook (/MarquetteVolleyball).